Sacrifices of Heroes
by uscfanatic7
Summary: The war looks to be won. The Ceph are defeated. CELL is scattered. But when the nations pick up strange strange energy readings from nearby space, they contact the man who saved us all to investigate these readings, it becomes evident that all is not well. The nations and a new team of Nanosuit soldiers face an enemy that is powerful and persistent. (I hate summaries.)
1. Chapter 1: The Strange Energy

Inside of the large conference room, various accented voices filled the air with a low murmur. The world representatives were all seated at a large circular table that stretched around the room with England standing at a podium near the front. He was silently going through various notes that had odd markings, complex charts, and hastily scribbled handwriting. He sighed as he placed the papers back down in front of him and spoke with a loud voice that brought attentive silence. "Alright everyone, you know why we called this meeting so I will skip the explanation and the pleasantries. Our scientists have detected some sort of energy anomaly in outer space that has just now been brought to our attention. We have no idea of whether it is hostile or not, nor do we know where the bloody thing is coming from, but due to recent events we don't want to take any chances." The nations all nodded their heads in agreement. They knew about the horrifying Ceph invasion that had happened just eight months ago, and they knew exactly how badly it had wounded America. Many faces turned towards the global superpower but then turned away in pity and from the fear of that horrible memory would resurface. Some of them could still recall England and France running into the meeting hall in Germany carrying a sobbing America who was clutching his blood soaked jacket sleeve with a dark red hand. Those who helped take care of America could still remember hearing the sickening cracks of his bones crushing themselves as the city was being completely demolished, and his screams still rang in their ears. Even England was still traumatized by this experience, but a lone hand rose at the far end of the table and waved about like a child desperate to get a teacher's attention. Everyone looked at the hand and the happy Italian it belonged to. "Yes, Italy?" "Ve~ Are-a you sure that they aren't just some of-a Tony's friends? He's had some of his-a family come from there before so-a maybe that's what it is. We could-a throw a welcome party and have PASTA!" Everyone sweatdropped at his absurd outburst. Germany facepalmed at his ally's stupid comment and didn't bother to move from that position until Italy's brother, Romano, stood up and began smacking his fraternal twin on the head. "Fratello! You're-a such and idiotic bastard to think of-a that! That-a foul mouthed alien went back to his people way before this even started! Honestly, this is-a serious meeting and you should-a act like an adult and not some pasta-loving bastardo like you usually are!" "QUIET!" Romano froze, about to hit Italy again, and sat down again when he saw the frustrated Brit at the podium. England pinched the bridge of his nose to fight off the oncoming migraine. "We need a plan as to how to approach this safely because I don't think any of us want another World War Z type of event like the invasion. Hell, we don't even know how that blasted problem was resolved so quickly! Speaking of which, do any of you know about how the invasion was stopped so suddenly?" The countries looked at each other with confusion. None of them had any idea as to what exactly ended the invasion and saved America from further harm. The room buzzed with voices, every accent around the world slowly blending together into one. Every one except for an American accent.

America sat to England's left with his right arm in a cloth sling. He was halfheartedly listening to the chatter of the world meeting and occasionally flinched as a sharp pain flared up his broken arm as it slowly mended itself. He knew exactly what had destroyed his arm and his city, but he knew something the rest of the world did not. He knew who was responsible for stopping it all. But the problem was that they were supposed to remain a closely guarded secret. Prophet and his team were a major military secret and he was sworn to not tell any of the other nations about them, except for his brother Canada who also had people in the system. Prophet would know exactly what to do in this situation, but he knew that he shouldn't break his promise with his boss. His mind raced in an internal argument that could ultimately determine their fate as the personifications of the world's nations. His wire-rimmed glasses slid down his nose and he used a gloved hand to push them back up. He knew that had to tell them, even if it meant breaking his promise. He would just explain how urgent it was to his boss later, he would understand. America sighed slightly and quietly spoke. "I know." England was the only one who heard him and turned towards him with intrigue in his eyes. "What did you say, America?" America looked up and his sapphire blue eyes met England's emerald ones. "I said, I know who stopped the invasion." The room immediately became dead silent and his words echoed off of the walls. The young nation stood up and took England's place at the worn wooden podium. "The people who stopped the Ceph invasion were a special team trained by my military and equipped with cutting edge technology from C.E.L.L. They had no real leader except they always looked up to a mysterious man known as Prophet. He singlehandedly turned back stages two and three of the Ceph planetary colonization. They were a major component of the main attack force that prevented total annihilation at Lingshan. Before you guys ask me, the reason why I never told you guys about this was that my boss didn't think that this group would even be needed because we all thought that aliens would never try to attack Earth. But it as it turned out we did need them. See, Iggy" he flashed the older nation a grin "my obsession with aliens finally paid off!" Spain stood up from his chair on the right side of the circle. "Amigo, do you think that this 'Prophet' you speak of can help us with finding out what the space energy is?" "I'm extremely sure that he can help us, but I don't know if he's willing to go through that again." he pulled out his old flip phone that he somehow still kept years after they were replaced by touchscreen phones. "I just want to make sure really quick that we all agree that this is the path we want to take. I could get in some deep shit if my government finds out I told everyone." Various shouts of 'yes' and 'yeah' rang out from almost all of the representatives. All except Romano, who decided to be stubborn at this moment. He was about to voice his opinion about the topic when France appeared behind him with his rape face on and whispered into Romano's ear. Romano yelped and ran behind Spain whimpering about how he would say yes if they just didn't let France get to him. The Frenchman chuckled while he returned to his seat. He sat down and nodded to England. England looked at his younger brother and crossed his arms. "Alright America, make the call. I just hope to God that you aren't wrong about this one." America smirked and dialed a number on his phone. "C'mon Iggy, lighten up! When was I ever wrong about something?" England was about to start ranting when he held the phone up to his ear and spoke as soon as he heard a deep voice say "What?" "We received information that you know how to combat the Ceph. To whom am I addressing?" England asked. "Laurence Barnes. They called me, Prophet"


	2. Chapter 2: Heeding the Call

Laurence Barnes put down his telephone slowly. There was no way that this could be possible. Firstly, he was surprised that anyone knew how to contact him. He had only kept the one phone in case HE needed to get someone, not vice versa. Secondly, and more worrying, these "nations" (which he had never heard of up till now) were telling him that the Ceph threat had once again resurfaced, and they needed him to once again take up arms. Laurence had been through enough wars for multiple lifetimes.

Laurence weighed his options. He could ignore the call and risk possible extinction of the human race, or he could go and check on the situation to stay on the safe side. Choosing the latter for obvious reasons, he picked up the phone and hit the redial button. As soon as the other line picked up he said "I'm in." "Great! Hold on just a sec. PROPHET'S COMING!" Laurence winced as the abnormally energetic shout rang in his ears. "Awesome, dude! We're sending a plane to get you now. Actually, it's already halfway there. We kinda expected you would say yes." Laurence rolled his eyes and asked "Should I bring anything?" The response came with a loud, overconfident laugh, "The nanosuit of course, and any other stuff you think you should need." The phone dropped from Laurence's hand. "Hello? Dude, Prophet, you still there bro?" America turned to the other nations, who were all sitting on the edge of their seats. He shrugged. "I guess we got disconnected."

Laurence sat down on his creaky bed with shaking hands. _Do they have any idea what that damn suit did to me? _He thought to himself as memories danced before his eyes, remembering falling to the Manhattan Virus and how he put a bullet in his head to free himself. Remembering how the Alpha Ceph used the Ceph DNA in his body that entered via the nanosuit to hold him down as Rasch had killed Claire Fontanelli before his very eyes. Remembering the countless voices "_You may as well be a fucking machine, because you sure as hell ain't no human being anymore._""_Is it Ceph? Is it human_?" "_You don't have a name. People have names. You have a call sign._". _No, if they knew they wouldn't ask_. Laurence hadn't felt regret when fighting the Alpha Ceph because he was mad with rage. But after the fight ended, he was filled with a void. He knew he couldn't regain his humanity. Even after all her had sacrificed, all he had done to preserve the human race, there was no reward. Not even a pat on the back. He had long since abandoned thoughts of pride, that he was a hero. Pushing these thoughts aside, he came to the conclusion that served both his refusal and their request. He would bring the suit, but not wear it.

Laurence walked to the corner of his rugged home towards a long wooden shipping crate and pried it open with a crowbar. After a moment of hesitation, he threw off the lid. He looked down into the box, and his gaze was met by that of a red visor.

"I'm tellin' you, he's not going to willingly put on that suit again!" Michael Sykes yelled into the receiver. "But he has to! Can't he see that this is a matter of life and death?" America said insistently. "I don't know if you realize this mate, but he did die, then came back to life to continue doin' what he thought was right. No man should have to do that at all, 'specially not twice!" The nation persisted on. "But he said he would bring the suit-""Did he now? Because I got plenty reason to believe you're lyin' to me. If you want my opinion, I would get your scientists together, and start buildin' new suits because, as I've stated a thousand fuckin' times already, it's not happenin' mate." America paused. "That's actually not a bad idea…" He began thinking of the possibilities. "I wasn't serious mate, are you seriously going to build more suits?" America started writing a note to go directly to the copier, then to be sent to all the nations' scientist teams. "Yeah Michael, we are. And if I'm not mistaken, you were one of the original nanosuit wearers." Michael choked up, thinking of how he had been skinned of his nanosuit, and not thirty minutes after he had forgiven Claire, who was responsible for it, she was killed by the Ceph. "Yeah, I was. Key word 'was'. I lost my suit." America let out a small grin. "I think that we can solve that. How would you like to be part of the new team of supersoldiers?" Michael's jaw literally dropped. It took him several moments to compose himself. "Is that even a fuckin' question? I would be honored to continue kicking squid ass on a whole new level! Of course, if you're lyin to me, I will kill you with a smile on my face." America smiled "Believe me dude; I wouldn't lie at a time like this. I'll get you to HQ as soon as possible." After the call was ended, America muttered to himself "These aliens won't know what hit them"


End file.
